Inktense Pencil Fun

On Monday and Tuesday, a bunch of us met at Essem Textiles to play and explore Inktense Pencils. If you’ve never used Inktense – it’s worth giving it a try. They are like pencil crayons with water soluble ink in them. You can colour on fabric and use water, aloe vera or a textile medium to bring out the vibrant colours.

Below is what I worked on. It’s a free drawing from Helen Godden and is the Christmas 2019 project. My plan is to finish “painting” it and then follow Helen’s Youtube videos for the zen-doodling quilting.

While we were at Essem, a bunch of ladies from the Chilliwack guild stopped in the store. You’ve seen a lot of their SAHRR center blocks HERE … and it was fun to meet them in person!

Stitching Stuff

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Kate, from Life in Pieces, is hosting “Stitching Stuff” and the goal is to sew for at least 15 minutes a day. I use Kate’s guideline, but my personal goal is to sew for 30 minutes a day. On those “blah” days, it does motivate me to sit at my machine and 30 minutes often turns into several hours. Thank you Kate for the motivation!

  • January 1-16 – 16 / 16
  • Total: 16 / 16
  • Percentage =100% 

Stash Report

Donna at Quilt Paint Create hosts a weekly linky party where you can display your stash.

This meme is still true! No fabric has been bought … at least not yet! No change in what I’ve used!

  • Fabric Used this week      0   yards
  • Fabric Used this year:        1.5 yards
  • Fabric Bought this week:   0 yards
  • Fabric Added this year:      0 yards 
  • Net Fabric used                  1.5 yards 

To Do

Linda from Texas Quilt Gal is now hosting “To Do” every week.

The To Do list last week:

  1. SAHRR: Finish Round 2 & work on Round 3 √   DONE
  2. Work on Polar Bear Plunge: get the top done √   DONE
  3. Work on Tickled Pink √   DONE
  4. Work on Island Batik January Project √   DONE
  5. Do NOT be distracted by any SQUIRRELS! I NEED this continual reminder! √   DONE
  6. Tidy & clean studio for 30 minutes √   DONE

This week’s list:

  1. Finish Round 3 & start Round 4 of SAHRR
  2. Sandwich and Quilt Polar Bear Plunge
  3. Work on Tickled Pink
  4. Finish Island Batik January Project
  5. Finish Macaron Mystery – January clue
  6. Do NOT be distracted by any SQUIRRELS! I NEED this continual reminder! 
  7. Tidy & clean studio for 30 minutes

Design Wall

There are a few things on my Design Wall and there is a couple of things I can show you …

#1 SAHRR is in progress … You can read about it HERE.

But I can show you my center block with Round 1 added.


#2 Polar Bear Plunge: This is for a blog hop in January … it should be fun! Of course, I can’t show you until the blog hop!


#3 Tickled Pink: This is for a blog hop in February … and again, I can’t show you until then!


#4 … Macaron Mystery Quilt

I’ve got some of January’s clue done … still have more to do …


Quilting:

Island Batik, January challenge is being quilted.


One New Start … no finishes. I did pull the fabrics for the February Island Batik challenge – does that count as a new start? And I started the Christmas wall hanging.

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Happy Quilting!    
Gail 

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17 thoughts on “Inktense Pencil Fun”

  1. Gail your Inktense projects look like fun. Love your list and can’t wait to see your January and February projects. I think I need to “borrow” your fabric meme since I haven’t bought any either. I’m working on my second round of SAHRR and have my Polar Bear Project 2 on the longarm now 😉

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  2. Pretty! I’ve been wanting to try Inktense pencils but have not yet splurged on them. I also will have to look into technique, I have no idea what you mean by the aloe vera gel? I love the projects I’ve seen using these pencils, including by you and by Sally.

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    • Oh Emily, I’m sure that you will enjoy it! Aloe vera gel is available at the drugstore, or some dollar stores. It is typically used for sunburns. Sally certainly does amazing work. Me? I just copy what someone else has done. In this case, it’s Helen Godden. 🙂

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  3. When I learned to paint fabric with Inktense pencils, I did a video on it. I prefer the aloe vera gel. I hope you are remembering to heat set any of these you do that may be washed later.

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    • Hi Gene,
      This is my first time using aloe vera … the other times I used water, which tends to bleed a LOT! I tried searching for your video (on youtube) and couldn’t find it? Thanks for the reminder to heat set!!! 🙂

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  4. Thank you for sharing your lovely projects. Those inktense materials sound interesting. Did you also use a burnisher and/or a blender on the fabric? I’m trying to order a small set to try and am wondering what basics I might need for using them on fabric. Thanks.

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    • Hi Elana,
      I use a method taught by Helen Godden. You use UNwashed fabric and trace the designs with sharpie pens. A friend of mine uses Washed fabric and traces the designs with a disappearing pen. For my project (and check out Helen Godden’s website and you-tube videos) I used a solid white batik (UNwashed), a black, yellow, red and green sharpie. I coloured with Inktense pencils and I started applying aloe-vera gel with a pencil. I will be quilting it with black, yellow, red and green thread. Hope this helps! Have fun!

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